Conflict of interest in Keystone environmental assessment unlikely: State Department official

Environmental Resources Management (ERM) — the company contracted to assist the U.S. State Department with its Keystone XL environmental assessment — isn’t likely to be found in conflict of interest, according to a State Department official.

When The Hill reported several weeks ago that the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) investigation into ERM’s supposed ties with TransCanada wouldn’t be finished until January, potentially adding another delay to what’s already been a protracted approval process, some important questions were left unanswered:

What happens if the OIG does determine there’s a conflict of interest? Would the State Department have to find a new contractor to carry out a new assessment?

If that were the case, based on how long the process has taken thus far, it would seem to raise the possibility of an even longer delay — possibly well into 2015.

iPoltics put those questions to the State Department, and an official suggested the OIG was unlikely to determine there was a conflict of interest.

“The State Department already has rigorous conflict of interest procedures to ensure that no contractors or subcontractors have financial or other interests in the outcome of a project,” they wrote in an email.

“For example: the selected contractor works directly with and under the sole direction of the Department of State and the contractor is not permitted to communicate with the applicant unless specifically directed to do so by Department officials.”

Nevertheless, the investigation proceeds.

For its part, TransCanada told iPolitics the conflict of interest question has nothing to do with them.

“This is a matter for the U.S. Department of State and ERM to address. TransCanada did not hire ERM to assist the DOS (Department of State) in the review of our Presidential Permit application, so all enquiries on this should be appropriately directed to either one of those organizations,” wrote Grady Semmens, a senior communications specialist with the company.